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Karina Smirnoff of Dancing with the Stars may have recently broken off her engagement to fellow dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, but regardless of what’s going on in her personal life, she’s ready to leave it all behind and do her best to shine on season 9 of DWTS with celebrity partner Aaron Carter.

Karina Smirnoff, PR Photo: ABC

Ukrainian born Karina Smirnoff first appeared on Dancing with the Stars in the third season of the ABC series with celebrity partner Mario LÃ³pez, whom she later dated for two years. Since then, Smirnoff has been a regular performer on DWTS, paired with such celebrities as Billy Ray Cyrus, chef Rocco DiSpirito and Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak. Currently, Smirnoff is partnered with singer Aaron Carter for the 9th season of the show.

Of all the Dancing with the Stars pros, Smirnoff happens to be one of our personal favorites and we’re rooting for her to finally take home a win this season. So when GumboWriters.com sent us the following video clip of an interview between Smirnoff and entertainment blogger Jeff Rivera, we couldn’t resist sharing.

The season premiere of Dancing with the Stars debuts Monday, Sept 21 at 8pm on ABC.